Boating group seeks to buy $1.8M schooner

Keila Torres Ocasio

Updated 8:41 pm, Saturday, March 16, 2013

Chris German, executive director of Connecticut Community Boating in Bridgeport, Conn. standing aboard the "Mystic,"which is docked in Mystic. German is hoping to raise over $250,000 for a down payment to purchase the $1.8 million boat and keep it in Connecticut. Companies out of state have expressed interest.
Photo: Keila Torres Ocasio

The boat "Mystic", is docked in Mystic, Conn. Chris German, executive director of Connecticut Community Boating in Bridgeport is hoping to raise over $250,000 for a down payment to purchase the $1.8 million boat and keep it in Connecticut. Companies out of state have expressed interest.
Photo: Keila Torres Ocasio

Inside shots of he "Mystic," a boat docked in Mystic, Conn. Chris German, executive director of Connecticut Community Boating in Bridgeport is hoping to raise over $250,000 for a down payment to purchase the $1.8 million boat and keep it in Connecticut. Companies out of state have expressed interest.
Photo: Keila Torres Ocasio

Inside shots of he "Mystic," a boat docked in Mystic, Conn. Chris German, executive director of Connecticut Community Boating in Bridgeport is hoping to raise over $250,000 for a down payment to purchase the $1.8 million boat and keep it in Connecticut. Companies out of state have expressed interest.
Photo: Keila Torres Ocasio

BRIDGEPORT -- Unable to sail, Chris German spends his winters dreaming of new ways to open up the state's waterfront to the masses.

This winter, the dream is a three-masted, 171-foot-long ship named Mystic that German envisions serving as a floating corporate party boat one week and a nautical summer camp for underprivileged children the next.

"This is a full-day experience," he said. "It gives us a much better chance of really reaching some of these guys' lives and having an awesome impact. These kids leave with such a glowing look on their face ... but then they spend the evening in some places that are challenging."

To make the dream a reality will also be challenging -- the Mystic comes with a $1.8 million price tag and a May 1 deadline.

The amount and time crunch might rattle any other nonprofit head, but not German. Since founding Connecticut Community Boating seven years ago on a sliver of the old landfill at Seaside Park, he has taught thousands of adults and children how to sail and swim, built a floating dock along Bridgeport Harbor downtown and convinced the Gathering of the Vibes management to open up the concert series to boaters.

And it was all done with an average donation of $25. "You can move the world with a $5 donation if enough people do it," German said.

Now, German is hoping he can mobilize enough people to help purchase the two-level schooner, which has a large galley, bar area, 17 staterooms serving 34 overnight guests and additional quarters for a 10-person crew.

The ship was built in 2007, but has not been sailed in two years. It was put up for sale when the owner, Mystic Schooner Line LLC, lost it through foreclosure after not paying the balance of a $4.1 million mortgage, according to reports in The Day.

German is trying to raise 10 percent of the purchase price by May 1 -- his ideal plan, however, would be to pay $500,000 up front -- in order to lock down the contract because the ship has caught the attention of companies in Chicago, New York and Maine.

"If we're going to keep this in Connecticut, if we want to this to be a resource Connecticut residents stand behind, we need to mobilize fast," German said. "We can actually get her in service this season if we can meet the May 1st deadline. If we go past May 1 it's really tough to book kids, it's complicated."

Because grant funding would take too long to come in, obtaining a bank loan is still difficult and state funds are not available, German said private donations are the only way to purchase the ship in such a short time frame.

"Quite frankly it'd be really cool if XYZ corporation wanted to hang their flag off of this," he said, "and we can do a corporate event for them once a year and take their entire company out for a little sail out on Long Island Sound."

Once purchased, all the Mystic would need is a little tender loving care, said John Madden, an Ansonia resident and CCB board member.

"You can take her, shine her up, polish her and she'll be the envy of any harbor that she sailed into," he said. "The bottom is basically a tank, with a steel hull instead of a wooden hull. You're talking about being able to crash into an iceberg if you needed to."

Because the Mystic was commissioned as a small commercial, cruise vessel, German isn't keeping his list of activities for the ship restricted to the week-long summer camps out at sea and corporate parties.

"I mean can you imagine this thing pulling up into Portugal for a tall ships parade," he said, "and having the Connecticut banner hanging off of it or any other company that's decided to get behind it. I mean there's a lot of potential for this thing. We spend too much time in this state thinking of what used to be and not what can be. This is the future of Connecticut not the past."

Those interested in volunteering, sponsoring or contributing to the CCB's efforts can email info@ctcommunityboating.org or call 855-99BOATS. To learn more about CCB, visit www.ctcommunityboating.org.